What’s race got to do with it? Census data show Black, Latino neighborhoods...
Editor’s Note: This is part of an occasional series of NC Policy Watch blog posts examining disproportionate impacts on race — in the environment, education, the courts and other sectors — and the...
View ArticleRiver Quality Committee sends GenX bill to full House, but Senate cooperation...
Gov. Roy Cooper had declared a state of emergency for more than a dozen North Carolina counties. Government offices were closed or delayed opening. Many roads were riddled with wrecked cars....
View ArticleInterim report shows that home septic systems are feeding the algae in Jordan...
Jordan Lake can’t catch a break. The drinking water reservoir for 300,000-plus people receives the brunt of human folly: industrial chemicals that sidestep available wastewater treatments, agricultural...
View ArticleBecause of leaking coal ash basins, DEQ wants a quicker clean up at three...
This post has been corrected to distinguish the dates of the basin dewatering (2018-19) from the basin closures (2029). Duke Energy would expedite the dewatering of coal ash basins at three of its...
View ArticleBREAKING: Proposed GenX bill appropriates $1.3 million to DEQ, money diverted...
This is a developing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available. The NC Department of Environmental Quality will get $1.3 million in one-time money to address emerging contaminants...
View ArticleSenate ghosts the House on GenX bill, leaving $2.3 million and DEQ directives...
On the House floor last night, Rep. Jimmy Dixon — a colorful Duplin County turkey farmer whose personality crosses an endearing grandpa with a shotgun-toting crank running kids off his lawn —...
View ArticleDigging out: Let’s keep the de-icer, road salt out of our water supply
While you’re excavating your sidewalk from beneath a foot-deep slab of snow, take it easy on the de-icer and rock salt. First, de-icers can contain a variety of salt compounds, which can be harmful...
View ArticleWhere climate change is wreaking havoc: the 10 hottest counties in North...
This post has been corrected to read that Elias Carr was governor of North Carolina in 1895, not William Umstead, who was born that year. Three degrees might not seem like much, but when the...
View ArticleThe Week’s Top Five on NC Policy Watch
1. Supreme Court blocks lower court’s order for NC to redraw partisan congressional maps The U.S. Supreme Court has granted state lawmakers’ request to block a lower court’s order for them to redraw...
View ArticleFactcheck: Sen. Berger’s claim that DEQ doesn’t need money for equipment, can...
It was a large ask, but arguably, a valid one. The House earlier this month appropriated $1 million for the Department of Environmental Quality to buy a high-resolution mass spectrometer — sensitive...
View ArticleChemours reported two small spills of GenX at its Fayetteville plant
Within about a month, Chemours reported two spills of GenX-contaminated wastewater at its Fayetteville Works plant — in one case, because of human error. The first spill occurred on Saturday, Dec. 9,...
View ArticleDuke Energy, ready to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, goes to the top:...
This post has been updated to include comment from Duke Energy. Anxious to begin cutting trees and clearing land to build the North Carolina portion of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Duke Energy has...
View ArticleOver widespread opposition, DEQ approves key water quality permit for...
This post has been updated with an announcement from Gov. Roy Cooper. For more than a year, environmental and citizens’ groups have battled against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. But today, the NC...
View ArticleThe week’s Top Five on NC Policy Watch
1. Over widespread opposition, DEQ approves key water quality permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline For more than a year, environmental and citizens’ groups have battled against the Atlantic Coast...
View ArticleDuke, coal ash neighbors reach settlement over language in water agreements
Duke Energy and several plaintiffs have reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit over allegedly predatory contracts for permanent water supplies. The court dismissed the case, filed in Wake...
View ArticleICYMI: The battle over offshore drilling and the latest on GenX
If you missed it over the weekend, be sure to check out our interview with N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan. Regan recently sat down with NC Policy Watch Executive...
View ArticleFour GOP senators send puzzling letter to EPA asking for audit of DEQ
While its House counterpart was holding hearings and hammering out legislation, the Senate Select Committee on River Quality has met one time. It has proposed not a single bill. Since Oct. 3, the...
View ArticleDEQ approves two more permits for Atlantic Coast Pipeline; protests scheduled...
Tree-cutting can begin along the northern part of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route in North Carolina now that state officials have approved a permit for that segment. The NC Department of...
View ArticleIn Bladen County, sorrow and outrage over GenX contamination in drinking water
DuPont had yet to break ground on its chemical plant when Elsie Dew’s father dug Marshwood Lake in 1964, in a hushed forest off Tranquility Road near the Cumberland-Bladen County line. The Dew family...
View ArticleThe Week’s Top Five on Policy Watch
1. The state of NC’s redistricting battles: A litigation cheat sheet for those trying to keep track North Carolina’s redistricting plans have drawn major court involvement over the last few years, and...
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